Just Because That Time I Saw The Insanely Thin Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Watch In The Metal

For better or for worse, I'm pretty jaded when it comes to horological marketing hype. "The most this" or "the game-changing that" typically results in a yawn and an eye roll these days. I see a lot of watches in this line of work (like, even more than you'd expect) and I've found that there is often an inverse relationship between hype and quality. Those who walk softly often make the most impressive watches and those with the loudest voices are often compensating. It's not always true, but it's more rule than exception.

But sometimes I'm caught totally off guard and am made to eat crow. Back at Watches & Wonders in Miami, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Watch in the metal and it totally blew my mind. When they say "ultimate" they're not exaggerating at all. With the important caveat that this is a true concept piece and not yet a consumer product, this is the thinnest mechanical watch in the world. It's just two millimeters thick, which feels even thinner in person than it sounds on screen.

I mean, look at it here next to a standard business card. Yeah, I know, right? To get it this thin, it has to be built with a single-mindedness that I can't help but find fascinating. It scratches a very particular, very obsessive itch in my imagination. For example, the strap is made of a special synthetic material because leather can't be cut thin enough and the hour hand is a disc set into the dial because there wasn't enough height for two traditional, centrally posted hands. Funnily enough, the thing I find most compelling about this watch is how strange it feels on the wrist. With the inset crown, the totally straight lugs, and the almost weightless presence, it tells you unabashedly that it doesn't care about being a normal, wearable watch. It has a totally different set of priorities and you have to either get onboard or pass on by.

When it was originally unveiled at SIHH 2018, this bad boy was show almost exclusively in a glass case, with gaggles of onlookers pushing and elbowing for their chance to see it on a pedestal. It was cool then, but a little over a year later, looking down at my wrist, I finally felt like I truly understood why this was was every bit as Ultimate as Piaget said.